 Reality and myths of combining proteins
Added: 01/26/2006 |
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For many people it seems that animal proteins are richer. However, the difference between animal and plant proteins has more theoretical rather than practical significance. Combining proteins can be beneficial, that's why vegetarians are often healthier since they avoid consuming animal protein containing fat. So, according to the protein combining theory, proteins from various plants complement each other and therefore play an important role in maintaining a good health condition of people.
Every more or less educated person knows that combining proteins can be pretty essential for the structure and correct functioning of all living human cells. As a matter of fact, some soy-based analogues of meat contain even more protein than meat, for example, beef. Sea vegetables, beans, rice, nuts are not an exception either and recommended to both vegetarians and non-vegetarians.
Thus, it's a common knowledge that plant protein is known to provide a well-balanced and complete source of amino acids to the human body. As a matter of fact, 65% of protein eaten all over the world is supplied by plant food. So, it's clear that being a vegetarian doesn't mean suffering lack of protein. It's necessary to mention that almost any combination of foods can meet adult needs in protein. But the only problem about them is that they don't contain complete proteins (except for soybeans). That's why combining proteins from various food products is often the best decision for vegetarians to get a sufficient amount of protein.
According to protein, combining theory several advantages of plant food rather than animal food are known nowadays. For example, people who prefer eating plant food are likely to get less cholesterol which is usually associated with heart diseases. It can be easily explained by the fact that there's no cholesterol in plant foods. At the same time vegetarians eat more fiber, which is able to reduce the risk of bowel diseases (including cancer). It's impossible not to mention that soy protein has a quite beneficial effect on female vegetarians.
One should bear in mind that combining proteins in excess and eating them in large amounts can lead to a range of harmful effects. For example, it may increase the amount of calcium excreted from the human body. That's why a diet rich in protein is likely to increase bone loss. On the other hand, meat protein is known to increase the uric acid (in the urine) and increases the risk of suffering from kidney stones.
Therefore, speaking about combining proteins, it's impossible not to tell several words about protein combining myth. So, a widely held protein combining and vegetarianism myth is that people should carefully combine different kind of plant food and consume them within several hours after each other. Following this instruction, vegetarians must make the so-called "complete protein" which is made up of eight essential amino acids. As a matter of fact, these are amino acids which cannot be produced by the human body and that's why - should be absorbed from food.
The mentioned myth has extensively been published in mass media. However, no concrete and supporting data has been provided by researchers in this field. According to the reliable sources of information, even vegetarians who don't eat soy should plan their complementary proteins as long as they have diverse diet and nutrition. Nevertheless, even today there are several people who try to deny the importance of combining proteins.
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